TheThirstyPigeon口渴的鸽子

APIGEON,oppressedbyexcessivethirst,sawagobletofwaterpaintedonasignboard.Notsupposingittobeonlyapicture,sheflewtowardsitwithaloudwhirandunwittinglydashedagainstthesignboard,jarringherselfterribly.Havingbrokenherwingsbytheblow,shefelltotheground,andwascaughtbyoneofthebystanders.

Zealshouldnotoutrundiscretion.

有只鸽子口渴得很难受，看见画板上画着一个水瓶，以为是真的。他立刻呼呼地猛飞过去，不料一头碰撞在画板上，折断了翅膀，摔在地上，被人轻易地捉住了。

这是说，有些人想急于得到所需的东西，一时冲动，草率从事，就会身遭不幸。

TheRavenandtheSwan乌鸦和天鹅

ARAVENsawaSwananddesiredtosecureforhimselfthesamebeautifulplumage.SupposingthattheSwan'ssplendidwhitecolorarosefromhiswashinginthewaterinwhichheswam,theRavenleftthealtarsintheneighborhoodwherehepickeduphisliving,andtookupresidenceinthelakesandpools.Butcleansinghisfeathersasoftenashewould,hecouldnotchangetheircolor,whilethroughwantoffoodheperished.

ChangeofhabitcannotalterNature.

乌鸦非常羡慕天鹅洁白的羽毛。他猜想天鹅一定是经常洗澡，羽毛才变得如此洁白无瑕。于是，他毅然离开了他赖以生存的祭坛，来到江湖边。他天天洗刷自己的羽毛，不但一点都没洗白，反而因缺少食物饥饿而死。

这故事是说，人的本性不会随着生活方式的改变而改变。

TheGoatandtheGoatherd山羊与牧羊人

AGOATHERDhadsoughttobringbackastraygoattohisflock.Hewhistledandsoundedhishorninvain;thestragglerpaidnoattentiontothesummons.AtlasttheGoatherdthrewastone,andbreakingitshorn,beggedtheGoatnottotellhismaster.TheGoatreplied,"Why,yousillyfellow,thehornwillspeakthoughIbesilent."

Donotattempttohidethingswhichcannotbehid.

很多山羊被牧羊人赶到羊圈里。有一只山羊不知在吃什么好东西，单独落在后面。牧羊人拿起一块石头扔了过去，正巧打断了山羊的一只角。牧羊人吓得请求山羊不要告诉主人，山羊说：“即使我不说，又怎能隐瞒下去呢？我的角已断了，这是十分明显的事实。”

这故事说明，明显的罪状是无法隐瞒的。

TheMiser守财奴

AMISERsoldallthathehadandboughtalumpofgold,whichheburiedinaholeinthegroundbythesideofanoldwallandwenttolookatdaily.Oneofhisworkmenobservedhisfrequentvisitstothespotanddecidedtowatchhismovements.Hesoondiscoveredthesecretofthehiddentreasure,anddiggingdown,cametothelumpofgold,andstoleit.TheMiser,onhisnextvisit,foundtheholeemptyandbegantotearhishairandtomakeloudlamentations.Aneighbor,seeinghimovercomewithgriefandlearningthecause,said,"Praydonotgrieveso;butgoandtakeastone,andplaceitinthehole,andfancythatthegoldisstilllyingthere.Itwilldoyouquitethesameservice;forwhenthegoldwasthere,youhaditnot,asyoudidnotmaketheslightestuseofit."

有个守财奴变卖了他所有的家产，换回了金块，并秘密地埋在一个地方。他每天走去看看他的宝藏。有个在附近放羊的牧人留心观察，知道了真情，趁他走后，挖出金块拿走了。守财奴再来时，发现洞中的金块没有了，便捶胸痛哭。有个人见他如此悲痛，问明原因后，说道：“喂，朋友，别再难过了，那块金子虽是你买来的，但并不是你真正拥有的。去拿一块石头来，代替金块放在洞里，只要你心里想着那是块金子，你就会很高兴。这样与你拥有真正的金块效果没什么不同。依我之见，你拥有那金块时，也从没用过。”

这故事说明，一切财物如不使用等于没有。

TheWolfandtheLamb狼与小羊

WOLF,meetingwithaLambastrayfromthefold,resolvednottolayviolenthandsonhim,buttofindsomepleatojustifytotheLambtheWolf'srighttoeathim.Hethusaddressedhim:"Sirrah,lastyearyougrosslyinsultedme.""Indeed,"bleatedtheLambinamournfultoneofvoice,"Iwasnotthenborn."ThensaidtheWolf,"Youfeedinmypasture.""No,goodsir,"repliedtheLamb,"Ihavenotyettastedgrass."AgainsaidtheWolf,"Youdrinkofmywell.""No,"exclaimedtheLamb,"Ineveryetdrankwater,forasyetmymother'smilkisbothfoodanddrinktome."UponwhichtheWolfseizedhimandatehimup,saying,"Well!Iwon'tremainsupperless,eventhoughyourefuteeveryoneofmyimputations."

Thetyrantwillalwaysfindapretextforhistyranny.

一只小羊在河边喝水，狼见到后，便想找一个名正言顺的借口吃掉他。于是他跑到上游，恶狠狠地说小羊把河水搅浑浊了，使他喝不到清水。小羊回答说，他仅仅站在河边喝水，并且又在下游，根本不可能把上游的水搅浑。狼见此计不成，又说道：“我父亲去年被你骂过。”小羊说，那时他还没有出生。狼对他说：“不管你怎样辩解，反正我不会放过你。”

这说明，对恶人做任何正当的辩解也是无效的。

TheBatandtheWeasels蝙蝠与黄鼠狼

ABATwhofelluponthegroundandwascaughtbyaWeaselpleadedtobesparedhislife.TheWeaselrefused,sayingthathewasbynaturetheenemyofallbirds.TheBatassuredhimthathewasnotabird,butamouse,andthuswassetfree.ShortlyafterwardstheBatagainfelltothegroundandwascaughtbyanotherWeasel,whomhelikewiseentreatednottoeathim.TheWeaselsaidthathehadaspecialhostilitytomice.TheBatassuredhimthathewasnotamouse,butabat,andthusasecondtimeescaped.

Itiswisetoturncircumstancestogoodaccount.

蝙蝠掉落在地上，被黄鼠狼叼去，他请求饶命。黄鼠狼说绝不会放过他，自己生来痛恨鸟类。蝙蝠说他是老鼠，不是鸟，便被放了。后来蝙蝠又掉落了下来，被另一只黄鼠狼叼住，他再三请求不要吃他。这只黄鼠狼说他恨一切鼠类。蝙蝠改口说自己是鸟类，并非老鼠，又被放了。这样，蝙蝠两次改变了自己的名字，终于死里逃生。

这故事说明，我们遇事要随机应变方能避免危险。

TheAssandtheGrasshopper驴子与蚱蜢

ANASShavingheardsomeGrasshopperschirping,washighlyenchanted;and,desiringtopossessthesamecharmsofmelody,demandedwhatsortoffoodtheylivedontogivethemsuchbeautifulvoices.Theyreplied,"Thedew."TheAssresolvedthathewouldliveonlyupondew,andinashorttimediedofhunger.

驴子听见蚱蜢唱歌，被美妙动听的歌声所打动，自己也想能发出同样悦耳动听的声音，便羡慕地问他们吃些什么，才能发出如此美妙的声音来。蚱蜢答道：“吃露水。”驴子便也只吃露水，没多久就饿死了。

这个故事告诉人们不要企望非份之物。

TheLionandtheMouse狮子与报恩的老鼠

ALIONwasawakenedfromsleepbyaMouserunningoverhisface.Risingupangrily,hecaughthimandwasabouttokillhim,whentheMousepiteouslyentreated,saying:"Ifyouwouldonlysparemylife,Iwouldbesuretorepayyourkindness."TheLionlaughedandlethimgo.IthappenedshortlyafterthisthattheLionwascaughtbysomehunters,whoboundhimbystrongropestotheground.TheMouse,recognizinghisroar,cameandgnawedtheropewithhisteethandsethimfree,exclaiming:

"Youridiculedtheideaofmyeverbeingabletohelpyou,expectingtoreceivefrommeanyrepaymentofyourfavor;nowyouknowthatitispossibleforevenaMousetoconbenefitsonaLion."

狮子睡着了，有只老鼠跳到了他身上。狮子猛然站起来，把他抓住，准备吃掉。老鼠请求饶命，并说如果保住性命，必将报恩，狮子轻蔑地笑了笑，便把他放走了。不久，狮子真的被老鼠救了性命。原来狮子被一个猎人抓获，并用绳索把他捆在一棵树上。老鼠听到了他的哀嚎，走过去咬断绳索，放走了狮子，并说：

“你当时嘲笑我，不相信能得到我的报答，现在可清楚了，老鼠也能报恩。”这故事说明，时运交替变更，强者也会有需要弱者的时候。

ClassandAss

ProfessorLaurieofGlasgowputhisnoticeonhisdoor:"ProfessorLauriewillnotmeethisclassestoday."

Astudent,afterreadingthenotice,rubbedoutthe"c".

LaterProfessorLauriecamealong,andenteringintothespiritofthejoke,rubbedoutthe"l".

班和笨驴

格拉斯哥的劳里教授在门上贴了这样一个通知：“劳里教授今天不见他的班级。”

一个学生读了通知后，擦掉了字母“c”(lass：姑娘)。

后来劳里教授来了，也想开开玩笑，他擦掉了字母“l”(ass：笨驴)。

（一）MakingHisMark“刻舟求剑”

AmanfromthestateofChuwastakingaboatacrossariverwhenhedroppedhisswordintothewatercarelessly.Immediatelyhemadeamarkonthesideoftheboatwherethesworddropped,hopingtofinditlater.Whentheboatstoppedmoving,hewentintothewatertosearchforhisswordattheplacewherehehadmarkedtheboat.Asweknow,theboathadmovedbuttheswordhadnot.Isn’tthisaveryfoolishwaytolookforasword?

楚国有个人坐船渡江时，他不小心把自己的一把宝剑掉落江中。他马上掏出一把小刀，在宝剑落水的船舷上刻上一个记号。船靠岸后，那楚人立即从船上刻记号的地方跳下水去捞取掉落的宝剑。他怎么找得到宝剑呢？船继续行驶，而宝剑却不会再移动。像他这样去找剑，真是太愚蠢可笑了。

（二）TheFoxandtheCrow“狐狸和乌鸦”

Onedayacrowstoodonabranchnearhisnestandfeltveryhappywiththemeatinhismouth.Atthattime,afoxsawthecrowwiththemeat,soheswallowedandeagerlythoughtofaplantogetthemeat.However,whateverthefoxsaidtothecrow,thecrowjustkeptsilent.Untilthefoxthoughthighlyofthecrow’sbeautifulvoice,thecrowfeltflatteredandopenedhismouthtosing.Assoonasthemeatfelldowntotheground,thefoxtookthemeatandwentintohishole.

有一天,一只乌鸦站在窝旁的树枝上嘴里叼着一片肉，心里非常高兴。这时候，一只狐狸看见了乌鸦，馋得直流口水，非常想得到那片肉。但是，无论狐狸说什么，乌鸦就是不理睬狐狸。最后，狐狸赞美乌鸦的嗓音最优美，并要求乌鸦唱几句让他欣赏欣赏。乌鸦听了狐狸赞美的话，得意极了，就唱起歌来。没想到，肉一掉下来，狐狸就叼起肉，钻回了洞

（三）PluggingOne’sEarsWhileStealingaBell“掩耳盗铃”

Onceuponatime,therewasamanwhowantedtostealhisneighbor’sdoorbell.However,heknewclearlythatthebellwouldringandcatchtheotherpeople’sattentionaslongashetouchedthebell.Sohethoughthardandsuddenlyhitonaclever“idea”.Hepluggedhisearswithsomething,thinkingthateverythingwouldgowellwhenhestolethebell.Unfortunatelytohisdisappointment,thebellstillrangloudlyandhewascaughtonthespotasathief.

从前，有一个人想偷邻居门上的铃，但是他知道一碰到铃，铃就会响起来，被人发现。他想啊想，终于他想出一个“妙极”，他把自己的耳朵用东西塞起来，就听不见铃声了。但是当他去偷铃时，铃声仍旧响起来，他被别人当场抓住

（四）Foxiswiththegrape“狐狸和葡萄”

Hungryofthefoxseethegrapetouphangtheradiantandextremelykeengrapeofastring,salivadirectcurrent,andwanttopicktoeat,butagain

Cannottakeoff.Seeinashortwhile,helplesslywalked,andhissidewalkthesideoneselftocomforttobyoneselfsay:"thisgrapehavenoesfamiliar,affirmative

Issour."

Thisistosay,andthesomeperson'sabilityissmall,anddotonotaccomplishanything,borrowtosaytheopportunemomentimmaturity.

饥饿的狐狸看见葡萄架上挂着一串串晶莹剔透的葡萄，口水直流，想要摘下来吃，但又

摘不到。看了一会儿，无可奈何地走了，他边走边自己安慰自己说：“这葡萄没有熟，肯定

是酸的。”

这就是说，有些人能力小，做不成事，就借口说时机未成熟。

（五）

Littleboyandscorpionson“小男孩与蝎子”

Thereisachildinfrontofcitywalltocatchthegrasshopper,andinashortwhilecaughtthelotsof.Suddenlyseeascorpionson,hetothinkisalsograsshopper,

Thentwogotocatchhim.Thescorpionsonraiseshispoisontostab,say:"come,ifyoureallydaretodolikethis,connectyourgrasshopperthatcatchtoalsowouldentirelylose."

Thisstorywarnspeople,andwanttodistinguishthepuregoodmanwiththebadperson,anddistincttotreatthem.

有个小孩在城墙前捉蚱蜢，一会儿就捉了许多。忽然看见一只蝎子，他以为也是蚱蜢，

便着两手去捕捉他。蝎子举起他的毒刺，说道：“来吧，如果你真敢这样做，就连你捉的蚱蜢也会统统失掉。”

这故事告诫人们，要分辨清好人和坏人，区别对待他们。